Consistency of billing issue at PRWID

The June 2 Price River Water Improvement District (PRWID) meeting consisted primarily of reviewing previous business and clarifying facts about PRWID's exchange of water with the cities of Price an Helper, which the district wants keep "consistent," according to district member Jeff Richens.

New business centered around some property owned by the district which includes a large power substation used for the mine, the aging substation which is designed to handle large amounts of power could, as Richens puts it "turn into a liability," which the district wants to mitigate.

Although PRWID does not use any power at the site, the substation also powers some pump houses that supply water to the Western Energy Training Center (WETC) a part of CEU. The district is in the process of working out a deal with Rockey Mountain Power (RMP), but at the moment the situation is still unclear.

District board member Mike Dalpiaz wanted to know if PRWID could simply put a meter on a possible bypassed power source and charge WETC for the power, but RMP said that its illegal to resell their power. The issue is awaiting more information as well as a definitive plan on future actions.

As for PRWID's issues concerning water and service sharing with Carbon County, the board also did not make any definitive decisions. Although more information on specifics is forthcoming,

"I think we should bill them like a regular customer," said Dalpiaz.

Other areas handle the situation differently than PRWID, such as Price city, which bills the county.

The district was also able to sell all of it's 1500 water shares at $15 each. PRWID took in $22,500 from the sale.

"We upped the quantity and price, and people still wanted them," said district member Steve Rigby during the meeting.